Thanks all. With the painted red band finished, I cut the "2-MB-1" decal into three pieces with a sharp scalpel and began placing the bits over the band:
After getting the rest of the bits on and decal solution dry, things turned out pretty good:
Back on the rudder, the white wrinkles were scraped smooth and the red and blue bands were touched up by hand before adding some heavily de-tacked masks.
The white was then sprayed and the whole rudder covered with a semi-gloss clear coat. Not great but it will pass:
On t'other end, the exhaust stacks were glued on and the prop was pressed in place. The cowl is not glued in as it's a snug fit. I realized as I took this picture that I lost one of the Hamilton Standard labels on the prop blades. This has since been replaced with a new old spare one from kits past.
The rear-facing gun was painted and glued in the stowed position:
And finally, for today, I glued the flaps in place. A couple of the actuator rods had broken off during handling and I'll need to replace those and bend the rest so they more or less attach to the flaps.
I'm getting close to finishing this one well before the deadline, a heck of a change for me! Thanks again and see you in the next and possibly final instalment.